Arine fell to the ground from the impact and rubbed his cheek. "Rude!" I returned to looking back at Ikko with worry. I put down The Book of Souls beside me and grabbed his hand tightly. "Can you heal him?" I asked, my question directed at Cienar. Cienar hesitated. "I can. However, broken bones are more complicated to heal than cuts and wounds. It would take a long time to do."
I closed my eyes and held his hand tighter until I heard a voice say, "You want to break my hand too, clumsy girl?" I opened my eyes with surprise to see Ikko smiling at me. I let go of his hand and gasped. "Ikko?!" He closed his eyes again with a tired look on his face. "Can't a guy take a nap around here without everyone tearing up?" He then moved to sit on the grass, and his body quaked as he did so. "Thanks for taking the water out. Now I can move again."
I hugged him upon impulse as a tear escaped my eye. "I'm so sorry!" I whimpered. Ikko paused as if he didn't expect me to apologize. "For what? Being annoying? It's fine." I let him out of my embrace when I saw that his skin was sparkling slightly. A cloud covered the sun so it was barely noticeable, but it was still brighter than Ikko probably would've liked. Seeing his playful smile made me wonder if we would ever get a chance to talk about what happened between us in the jungle. However, right now I was more worried about his health than anything. "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked. His silver eyes darted at me before settling on an unknown object in front of him. "Yeah. But I'm probably going to take it easy for a while." Cienar smiled. "At least we're all alive. And we have the," he paused as he looked down at The Book of Souls resting beside him. He then moved to pick it up without finishing his sentence.
Arine turned to him, fascinated with the cover's design. "What are you doing?" He asked. Cienar then began to flip through the moist pages. "There's sure to be a healing spell in here." Arine slipped next to him and looked at the ancient writing. "You can read that?" Cienar nodded without glancing at Arine. "My ancestors contributed to this book's contents. Which is why I knew how to find it in the first place. I'm a bit rusty in this tongue, but I can understand most of it. Ah, here's one."
Ikko waved at Cienar to get his attention. "Uh, wait. I'm not sure I trust you with-!" Cienar didn't acknowledge that Ikko was trying to say something and spoke the words of the spell before he could finish. "Ala, tengon, sief!" He raised his hand toward Ikko and magic shot out of it in the form of green smoke. Everyone coughed after inhaling the light powdery substance and it took a moment before I could see anything. When the smoke cleared, my eyes widened as I saw that Ikko had turned into a child of four or five. His clothes were too big for him to fit into and his new body was so much smaller than what I was used to that I had to blink a few times to believe it.
All of us stared at him with speechlessness. Ikko then looked down at his hands before glaring at Cienar. "You motherfu-!!" He was interrupted by Arine laughing his head off. "Haha! At least his wings are fixed! Hahahaha!" Arine rolled on the ground and continued to laugh while Cienar started to flip through the book again. "I must've pronounced it wrong..." He mumbled.
Ikko pulled his small feet out of his pants with a pout to see that his shirt was long enough to cover him entirely. Arine continued to laugh but I only stared. I didn't know how to feel about this. It was weird to see Ikko as a child, but at the same time, I couldn't ignore that he was the most adorable little thing I've ever seen. His messy black hair and huge silver eyes were shiny and cute, along with his tiny wings and body. I couldn't resist and pinched his cheek. "H-Hey! What are you doing?!"
Even his voice was high and cute. "I can't help it! You're so adorable!" I giggled. Ikko's eyes popped open wide and the others followed his surprise. I then picked Ikko up and hugged him tight. "You're just so squishy and a cutie baby." Arine sat up with his mouth dropped. "Oh come on!! I never thought I'd be jealous of a four-year-old! Change him back! Change him back!" Cienar raised an eyebrow. "I'm oddly jealous too..."
Ikko then wrapped his arms around my neck with an evil smile. "She's all mine now. Hehe." He was so cute I didn't care how weird this was. I ignored the men's reactions and moved to kiss Ikko's forehead. Arine's hands turned into fists at his sides. "Now that's going too far! Have you figured out how to change him back yet?!" Cienar looked up from the book with concern. "I don't know. I have an idea, but I am too inexperienced at magic. We need a sorcerer." Arine raised an eyebrow. "Then I guess it's a good thing we're headed to one." Cienar's face showed surprise after Arine spoke but he said nothing.
Arine then slapped his forehead with realization. "Oh, right! Only Silvera and I know why we need the book. My bad. So, in short, I need to give the book to a sorcerer so he will give me back my sister." Cienar stared at him blankly and Ikko pulled away from nuzzling me. "Wait. Are you saying I'm stuck like this until we find an evil sorcerer who may or may not change me back?!"
Arine nodded, grimly. "Unfortunately, that is the case. You can still use your magic though, right?" Ikko's glare fell thin. "No. This form is weak and squishy! I can probably conjure a few volts, but otherwise, I'm rat bait!" I then turned Ikko around to sit on my lap and wrapped my arms around him. "Don't worry. I'll take care of you until we figure this out." Arine then turned to Cienar. "Could you by any chance turn me into a kid too?" Cienar rolled his eyes and got to his feet. "We better get moving."
I became nervous at the thought of more adventure than I could handle. I was still sore from when that rock hit my stomach and there was no way I would be able to walk anymore today. "Um, do you mind if we camp here for the night? I'm too exhausted from everything that happened today." Cienar paused with a look of understanding and nodded. "Yes. Of course. Take as much time as you need to recover." I smiled. "Thank you."
Near nightfall, we had made camp in a clearing near the beach. Cienar and Arine were gathering food and supplies while I was helping Ikko get used to his temporary body. While he was trying to walk, he fell back onto his butt every time he stood up. "Ugh! What is the point of this small body? It's annoying!" He shouted. I hesitated at his frustration. "Haven't you ever been a child before, Ikko?" He crossed his arms. "Of course not. Angels are created adults."
The thought of such a thing made me sympathetic toward him. "Angels don't have families?" Ikko turned to me, emotionless. "No. Never did. Man, you've sure lived a sheltered life. How could you know so little about the magic realms?" I didn't know whether I should refer to the memories he had no doubt seen that I was a slave before becoming The Demon King's toy. An illiterate slave. I kept my mouth shut and Ikko changed the subject before noticing my avoidance. "As I was saying, what's the point of a child? They are just weak and dumb and can't take care of themselves!" I patted his head with a small smile. "That's what families are for. They teach and take care of children so they can grow. If you think about it, this may be a blessing in disguise. You are the first angel to have a family."
He looked at me with a hint of surprise. "I guess. So, you're my mama now?" I was blanking on what to say to that when he laughed. "Haha! Your face is priceless! Are you kidding? A mother is the last thing I think of you as. I'm just messing with you." His comment made me remember what happened between us and how we finally had a chance to talk about it alone. "And...what do you think of me as?" I asked, tentatively. Ikko raised an eyebrow at me, understanding what I was referring to. "You want to bring this up while I'm still potty training?" I burst out with a laugh. "Alright. That's a good point."
I saw that he was having trouble sitting up and pulled him onto my lap to support his head on my arm. Ikko smiled softly. "I wish you were this comfortable with me when I was a man," He said. I was surprised. I never thought a child would say that to me. He continued. "It's obvious you're afraid of men. Why?" I became uneasy at the question. "I'm comfortable around Arine and Cienar." He gave me an unamused look. "I said, men." I tried not to laugh. "That's so mean!" He smiled brightly. "I know! That's why I said it!"